


Something Worth Suffering For

by LoftyFeather



Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Fallout, Fallout 4 - Freeform, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Oh my god so much Fluff, Original Character - Freeform, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 20:37:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8300159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoftyFeather/pseuds/LoftyFeather
Summary: They both had been through hell. And they were able to cope in different ways. But its always nice to wonder if there was someone who wanted to be with you through it all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my fist fic ever! I probably will redo this one day. I know that if I keep this up I'll have the know how to strengthen some of the dialogue and punctuation. But I just had a mighty need for some Kent and Sole Survivor feels. Hopefully you'll enjoy.

Kent never really thought of himself as strong, both in the physical and figurative sense. He was quiet and timid. Which made him an easy target for people to take advantage of him. Even before the war. It was hard for him to make friends, or even open up to people he already knew about what was troubling him. He saw himself as weak, and incapable. Some days he would have to fight to find something to be optimistic about.

But he could live with that. Because his mother was always there when after a bad with precious of encouragement. Telling him that one day it would all work out. She would hold onto him while humming some old song. And when he felt safe enough to leave his room his dad would have lasagna on the table ready for him, along with an ice cold Nuka Cola. Then he would drift into sleep, hoping that tomorrow wouldn’t be so hard. 

Then the day came where it looked like he was going to actually make something of himself. He remembered the day when he received that letter. The letter from the Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts, the letter telling him that he had been accepted. He remembers running with tears in his eyes towards his front door. He had to start packing immediately. He remembers trying to figure out how he could celebrate with his family. And he remembers the joy that came with feeling for the first time to truly being excited of the future.

Then he remembers stopping dead in his tracks. That’s when he heard the earsplitting sound of the sirens. The neighbors screaming, grabbing onto one another. A bright blinding lights, and the clear blue sky turning into a distressed orange.   
It felt like he had been sucker punched in the stomach. Everything he had planned for had been ripped away from him in seconds. Then thrown back at his face with force, along with all the surrounding debris and shrapnel.

Kent snapped out of the faded memory when he heard the door to the Memory Den. He looked down at his desk, parts of the appliance he was working on and small tools were scattered all over the work space. He looked over at the clock he had managed to rebuild, it read 8:44 p.m. He could hear Irma greeting someone, but he wasn’t quite able to make out what she was saying. But then he could hear another voice, a warm voice getting closer to his door. Kent shot up from his chair, quickly straitening his tie as best as he could. He swung open his door to come face to face with a familiar figure dressed in a long black trench coat and matching fedora, raising her hand readying herself to knock on the door. 

“Shroud you’re back!” Kent shouted in an off-balance tone. 

Hey Kent, how are you doing?” Meiying asked coolly while being ushered into his room. She removed her hat and her coat like she always did placing them on the end table, revealing even more of her lean frame, and her chin length brunet hair.

Don’t get him wrong, Kent liked and was even proud that she wore the Silver Shroud costume that he had made, but he wouldn’t admit out loud that he would get butterflies in his stomach whenever Meiying showed him just a little more of her body. Her thin warm smile, her intense chocolate eyes, and especially her hair that she always somehow managed to style it cute and messy at the same time. “God she looks good” he thought to himself. 

“Kent?” 

“Wha?” Realizing he had gotten lost in his thoughts he scrambled back to reality.

“I said, how have you been doing?” Meiying asked with a patient expression. 

“Oh I’m doing good, I found a waffle iron and I’m trying to see if I can get it working again.” 

She made her way to his couch with purpose in her steps. Kent stood in the middle of the room and watched as Meiying quickly sat down. He couldn’t help but notice that she had her hands clasped together, then he saw that she had her brow furrowed in a focused expression. She had acted like this for a few weeks now. Whenever he would try to talk to her she would become visibly tense. Even her quick wit would be absent from their conversations. He was starting to worry that he was the cause of all this.

It was odd for her to act like this though. No matter how high the odds were stacked against her, Meiying was always able to give off the impression that she was in control. That was one of the qualities that Kent had found attractive about Meiying when they had first met. That’s probably what had gotten her this far in the wastes. Not like he would, he thought. He would probably get nervous, and get stumped if he were in her shoes. 

But now here was the Hero of the Commonwealth, the General of the Minutemen, the Silver Shroud, sitting on his couch, practically shaking in her boots. 

“Mei? Is everything all right? If there something you need to talk abo”

“What do you mean?” She had cut him off mid word. She looked to him with an expression that was akin to a deer getting caught in the headlights.  
“  
Well, I mean, how do I put it. You seem scared ya know, but if you need help I’ll do whatever I can for you.” He stated, a little scared that he actually was the problem. Or that if it was something else that he wasn’t going to be of any help to her.   
“  
Heh heh” Meiying let out a small chuckle. “No, don’t it’s nothing bad”. She then stood up to face Kent, so she could be eye to eye with the distressed Ghoul. “I’m just came here” she trailed off, because I came here to….” she took a deep breath” talk to you about something.”

“Oh!” Relief washed over him with the confirmation that he didn’t do anything wrong. “Okay, what j’ya have on your mind?”   
She brought her feet together, and straightened her back. Almost like she was some sort of young solider appearing before their commanding officer. 

“Kent, I want you to know that I’ve been thinking about what I’m about to say for a while now.” “And I’m still trying to figure out how these sorts of things would work now.” 

No.

She was visibly nervous now, but hell if she wasn’t trying her damnedest to not fall apart in front of Kent.

No way.

“So I guess what I’m trying to say is…

No way, not in his wildest dreams was she about to do what he had fantasized about her saying since she the day she had saved him from Sinjin.

She exhaled a shaky heavy breath.

Kent would it be alright if I told you that I liked you?”

And there it was, she had finally managed to get out those words after what felt like an eternity to the both of them. The words that he felt had made him a hopeless idiot to even entertain the idea of her saying them to him. The words that she had spent at least three weeks rehearsing and practicing again, and again out loud in her travels across the wastes. He swore that his heart had skipped a beat.

“Is this happening? Oh my God it is, what should I do? Why would she want me? No this is a dream, a malfunction within the memory pod and I’m stuck in it.” He could feel the red hot burning on his face from trying to blush. Kent’s mind was in a scramble. And he was just starting to get some rationality back, when he saw her face.

“I’m sorry” was all she had managed to spit out.

It was only for a second before she had dropped her head so she could look to the ground. But she looked defeated, like she had been punched in the gut. He had to do something before she completely made herself feel like a fool in front of him. No, he was going to be in control of the situation. For her sake.

“Mei” She had heard him quietly let out her nickname, and then before she knew what was happening he had closed the distance between them and she was in his arms.

He had to be cool about this, like those actors all the girls were crazy about in those old movies. One of his arms moved across her lower back, pulling her in closer to him. His rough hand made its way up her neck, to hold and cradle the back of her head. She could feel his warmth against her, as her head found a resting place in the crook of Kent’s neck. Once she realized   
what he was doing, she couldn’t hold it in any longer. 

He could feel her hot tears running down the exposed part of his neck, hearing the small unstable breaths she was letting out he finally found the nerve to break the silence. He couldn’t let her continue, he had to say something to try to calm and steady her. 

“I’m sorry…. I had to take a moment there. But, why me? Don’t worry, I am happy but Mei, you don’t really wanna be stuck with someone like me.”

“What?” she said in a small whisper.

“I mean well, just look at yourself. You’re intelligent, and your strong, and your kind to other people even when it isn’t convenient for you. And you always seem like you know what you’re doing Mei.” When he finally finished a nervous breath left his body, astonished from the fact that he was able to say all of that without tripping over his own words.

Why would she choose him anyway? She could have any one she wanted, she could have someone brave, dashing, and smart like Detective Valentine. Maybe someone who was as funny and as smooth as Mayor Hancock. Hell even that Brotherhood of Steel guy, the one that she would make wait outside of Goodneighbor if he was travelling with her. At least that guy still had most of his skin.

But when had managed to she speak again through small sobs and hiccups, he was taken back by what he had heard. 

“Because you’re wonderful Kent”.

He pulled back while still holding onto her. He wanted to look at her face to make sure he was actually hearing what she was saying.  
It’s the way you light up and get excited over little things that make you happy. You can find old trinkets and find a purpose for them again. It’s how you can be optimistic, even in this world. You can put your mind to something as impossible as bringing the Silver Shroud to life and see it through. I wouldn’t have met you if you had truly believed your ideas were dumb. I love how even with everything that’s been thrown, you don’t give up. You can step back look at the world around and say, I believe that there are people and things that are worth fighting for.” 

She tried to keep going, she knew how Kent saw himself. She wanted him to have everything give him everything that life had denied him. And if it meant devoting all her days to making him happy, she sure as hell was going to give them to him.

Tears were still falling of her face. She had been overwhelmed by everything. He needed to soothe her, let her know she was okay. He thought about those old movies again, and what one of those actors would do in this situation, then it came to him. He cupped her cheek in his hand, closed his eyes, and leaned in.

She made a surprised hum in the back of her mouth. She felt what was left of his warm chapped lips on hers. He was slow and tender. She gave in, feeling his body holding on her loosely. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself deeper into the kiss. The scene looked like a sincere romantic book cover. They could have held each other like that for the rest of their lives, and have been completely fine with it. 

After what seemed like forever, he pulled back. He was trying to balance his actions so as not to make the kiss too sloppy and awkward. Meiying had looked to his eyes, trying to say something, anything but being unsure of just what to say. 

He spoke first, “Sorry I should have asked first.” 

“No its okay, I think I needed that” she told him, letting out a small laugh. 

She rubbed her eyes, at least she stopped crying. And she was probably going to feel embarrassed about acting like a “big baby” in the morning. She had placed her head on his shoulder, trying to get her bearings. He could feel Meiying’s mind at work, trying to find her way back to her normally cool and calm persona.

He was glad that she at least had her eyes closed. Kent was wearing the goofiest biggest smile across his face, pride emanating from him being able to pull all of that off. They started swaying when Kent asked her a question. 

“If you don’t mind my askin, how long have you thought about me like that?” Kent was curious as to when this started to happen.

“I dunno. A while I guess. I just remembering it hitting me around a month ago.”

It went silent again, she was probably too exhausted to go into detail right now.

“You alright Mei?”

“Yeah…my eyes are bloodshot, I’ve got snot running down my nose, and I just feel like I’ve run a marathon. But other than that, peachy.” There it was, that was the first time he’d heard her make any sort of joke in weeks.

“You wanna sit down Mei?” He said gesturing his head towards the couch.

She nodded. He directed her to the couch, sitting next to her. He was getting settled when she leaned against him, guiding his body to lay down with her head resting on his chest. He could feel the burning blush again in his cheeks.

“Sorry, I’m just a little tired. And you look like you feel real comfy right now”.

Comfy wasn’t a word Kent ever thought could be used to describe him, but he didn’t pay it any mind. All he was thinking about was the girl on him, his girl. He let his hand rest on the top of her head.

“That’s okay, just try to relax. I’ll stay here as long as ya need.”

Kent looked up at the ceiling, listening to Mei’s breathing getting slower and more steady. He was still in a state of shock, that he knew wasn’t going away anytime soon. He was absolutely dumbfounded that a ghoul like him could have the best hope for the wastes wanting to be side by side with him. 

He was almost convinced it was a dream until he could here Dr. Amari and Irma talking about something through on the other side of the wall. Probably about what Irma was able to hear through the keyhole on his bedroom door. Oh well Kent didn’t care. He could feel himself starting to fall asleep. He looked down to see Mei finally asleep.

Here he was with a person who genuinely wanted to be with him, and make him happy. Someone who he felt he didn’t deserve. But he knew without a shadow of a doubt, he would walk through the end of the world all over again if it meant getting to stand by her side.

If being here with her was in this moment was what was waiting for him in the other side of two hundred years of living through the apocalypse, then it was worth every single day of waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> So there it is. I wanted to see if I could write a fic where Kent was more in control, and Sole was the one who needed comfort. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with seeing a character portrayed like he normally. But I wanted to see if I could make him "suave" while still being in character. I hoped you enjoyed.


End file.
